We all have that one person. (Or maybe more than one…)
I want to know:
how you know this person
what this person’s naming style is like
names they dislike and why
how highly you esteem their input
Mine
[name_f]My[/name_f] sister. I love her to death but she is impossible when it comes to names! To be fair, she is the only person I’ve actually physically talked names with, but that makes it extra frustrating when she beats up my names.
Her naming style is very safe. There is, of course, nothing wrong with that, but she seems to think that the safe names are the only ones that should be used…The name she has picked for her future son is the name of her favorite book series’s MC. The name peaked in 1995 and is a diminutive of a popular classic, so, while it’s not necessarily common, it’s familiar. I think it’s a great name because it holds meaning to her and while she doesnt know itbecause shes not a genealogy nerd like me, it runs in our family.
She is not a fan of unisex names, especially when it comes to boys. She dislikes [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_f]Allyson[/name_f], [name_u]Harper[/name_u], [name_u]Peyton[/name_u] and the like on boys, and [name_u]Lincoln[/name_u], [name_u]Charlie[/name_u], [name_u]Billie[/name_u], and such on girls. Most memorably, a few months ago i was audibly reminiscing over when I planned on naming my future children [name_u]Corrigan[/name_u] (b) and [name_u]Arbor[/name_u] (g). I will never forget her face as she said “Please don’t. I’ve never heard those before and it would be weird.” i was speechless
I love her dearly but, in the best possible way, I couldn’t care less what she thinks. I’ve moved on from [name_u]Corrigan[/name_u] and [name_u]Arbor[/name_u], but I wouldn’t have let the fact that she had never heard them before stop me from using them. In fact, that makes them all the more appealing! [name_m]Little[/name_m] does she know that my current list is way more out there, and that’s exactly why I haven’t shared it with her. If I use those names someday she’ll just have to learn to love them.
how you know this person - [name_f]My[/name_f] dad!
what this person’s naming style is like - To quote the man, “I don’t have one”
names they dislike and why - dislike - [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] (too soft-sounding) others he is iffy on - [name_f]Lucy[/name_f], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Ella[/name_f], [name_u]Jack[/name_u]
how highly you esteem their input - yeah, not really that much…
his favorite names - [name_u]August[/name_u], [name_f]Augusta[/name_f], [name_u]Augustine[/name_u], [name_m]Augustus[/name_m] (can we guess what his middle name is? )
1- [name_f]My[/name_f] husband
2- He loves solid historical names with good meanings. I like super ethereal out-of-the-top-1000 names.
3- He dislikes anything that remotely sounds like it could belong in LOTR. He vetoed my favorite boy name–Illarion-- and just about every other --ion / --ian /–eon ending name because it’s too LOTR esque and not useable in the real world. [name_m]Illarion[/name_m] is from Greek, not elvish
4- I mean, any babies we make will be half of him so…pretty darn high.
Varies. [name_f]My[/name_f] mom loves trendy, new-sounding but not too weird names, such as [name_m]Mykelti[/name_m] or [name_u]Colby[/name_u]. She also likes names that can be shortened to quirky initial nicknames, such as SJ. The older relatives seem to much prefer what they call normal names, such as [name_u]William[/name_u] or [name_f]Hannah[/name_f].
[name_f]My[/name_f] mom mentioned disliking [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] and [name_f]Lydia[/name_f]. A number of relatives dislike my son’s name, too.
Not at all. Most of their input boils down to juvenile hissy-fits about how their “side”/themselves either want honored or to be able to actually pick our childrens’ names. I don’t play that game. We don’t discuss names with family as a rule, at this point. If they didn’t help make the baby, they don’t get a say in what it is named.
• my lovely sister!
• she likes big, melodramatic, ‘froofy’ names, preferably featuring in [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m], especially for girls: [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f], [name_f]Imogen[/name_f], [name_f]Rosalind[/name_f], [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] & [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] are favourites. Basically she doesn’t like any boys names except [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] but what she lacks in variety she makes up for in the depths of her obsession.
• oof she hates [name_f]Alice[/name_f] & literally all my boys names, particularly (inexplicably) [name_m]Raphael[/name_m]
• tbh it works in reverse bc she plans on having a big big family & I don’t want name stealing drama
1.) [name_f]My[/name_f] mom
2.) [name_f]My[/name_f] mom likes classic, romantic names and she was ahead of her time naming us since all of our names are now quite popular.
3.) [name_f]My[/name_f] mom dislikes dated names, trendy names, and grandiose names.
4.) I stopped bringing up names once she reacted very negatively to me asking for her opinion on [name_f]Gilda[/name_f]. So not that much lol
I don’t really talk to people about names in real life, mostly because they think it’s an odd interest / don’t really want to hear about it or listen (fair enough), and because I’m happy with some of my faves and don’t need the criticism However, because I do sometimes talk to my mum about it, I think she counts as that!
I’d say her naming style is sort of modern classic (my name is [name_f]Grace[/name_f], for reference - she also liked the names [name_u]Zoe[/name_u], [name_u]Holly[/name_u], [name_f]Isla[/name_f], Eleanor), but with a few wildcards thrown in (Gray, [name_u]Rain[/name_u], Peggy) . Her opinions on names I mention can change day to day, from ‘that’s interesting/nice’, to ‘not sure on that’ to ‘not keen’ - nothing super bad, but often it’s more ‘okay then…’ (and possibly, thank goodness you’re not actually naming a child rn). She does always mention interesting names she’s heard to me, which is very kind of her, but not sure she actually likes them!
She has expressed she’s not keen on [name_f]Cherith[/name_f], [name_f]Mabli[/name_f], [name_m]Sholto[/name_m], [name_m]Tadhg[/name_m], [name_u]Romilly[/name_u], [name_f]Ilaria[/name_f], [name_f]Ginevra[/name_f], [name_f]Kaia[/name_f] and [name_f]Tamar[/name_f] in the past.
I love my Ma dearly and am very grateful she listens to me ramble, but tbh, I’m pretty good at not letting those comments sway me too much.
I do wonder if this would be different if I had a partner/was actually naming a child/talked more about names irl, as I realise none of these comments about my names have been particularly difficult/harsh!
Mine is my twin brother. Besides my husband he’s the only one I discuss potential baby names with. His style is more on the classic side, and he prefers names with a general Scandinavian feel to it (his top names at the moment are [name_m]Magnus[/name_m] and Lotta).
Names I’ve mentioned in the past and he disliked: most recently [name_u]Gefen[/name_u], he thinks it sounds like [name_m]Kevin[/name_m]. He also dislikes [name_u]Odysseus[/name_u], [name_m]Betzalel[/name_m] ( ) and [name_f]Flordelis[/name_f].
To his credit, he did suggest [name_f]Kinneret[/name_f] for our daughter’s second middle name when we were completely stuck, and we ended up using it.
I value his input, because I value his opinion on anything and everything. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t use a name because he dislikes it. I love discussing names with him, and he’s always respectful when giving his opinion. If he has valid reasons for disliking a name, I might reconsider using it, unless I was absolutely certain it was the one for me.
We both respect the fact that we have different tastes when it comes to names, and that’s fine.
He is a friend! But he is also the only one I share my names with.
He likes the most randomest names ever He does like [name_f]Esmeray[/name_f] and [name_f]Parisa[/name_f] so I think his style would be dreamy/cottagecore.
[name_u]Atlas[/name_u], because it is very popular.
A lot, because he’s the only person I share my names with outside of Nameberry.
what this person’s naming style is like: names that were normal/popular in the 80s and 90s. [name_m]Jonathan[/name_m], [name_m]Alec[/name_m], [name_m]Ian[/name_m], [name_f]Sarah[/name_f], [name_f]Megan[/name_f], [name_f]Rachel[/name_f], etc.
names they dislike and why: names that are too “old fashioned” such as [name_u]June[/name_u], [name_f]Mabel[/name_f], [name_u]Hazel[/name_u], [name_f]Edith[/name_f], etc. and named that are too “unusual” like [name_u]Forest[/name_u], [name_m]Cosmo[/name_m], [name_m]Casper[/name_m], ect. She also dislikes names that I thought she would like, the main one that comesto mind being [name_m]Isaac[/name_m].
how highly you esteem their input: I love my mom so much, but it ain’t gonna be her kid. I really hope that she comes around to whatever names I end up choosing, but it isn’t a dealbreaker if she doesn’t like it.
I’m not quite sure what her style is because the only names I know she likes are the one’s she’s used for kids/pets. I think they can mostly be categorized as modern or quirky classics but all of them had other reasons, like pop culture references or specific linguistic roots, for why she picked them so I don’t think that was an intentional theme. Sometimes she also suggests frilly over the top things with a bit of a witchy/mystical feel which is definitely in line with her style in other aspects of life.
The ones that I can specifically remember are that she says [name_f]Rosemary[/name_f] seems like a stuffy old [name_f]English[/name_f] lady and keeps bringing up Rosemary’s [name_u]Baby[/name_u] even though I’m not sure she’s actually even seen the movie, when I first mentioned [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] as a teenager she said it sounded feminine which I took to mean too soft but I don’t know if she still feels that way, she dislikes [name_f]Emily[/name_f] and [name_f]Anneliese[/name_f] but I can’t quite remember why, she thinks [name_u]Phaedra[/name_u] is weird and a little dramatic but is maybe warming up to it, she wasn’t a big fan of [name_f]Niamh[/name_f] because she felt there wasn’t enough oomph to it or something, and both my parents hate [name_u]Anne[/name_u] because they think its the pinnacle of boring but have reluctantly conceded that [name_f]Annie[/name_f] is “better than Anne” because I won’t shut up about it and have made it very clear they will probably have a grandaughter called [name_f]Annie[/name_f]. A lot of names I mention she feels are a bit old fashioned and she isn’t a huge fan of stretchy nicknames so she isn’t always on board with my nickname ideas (my sister has even dustier vintage taste than I do, absolutely loves stretchy nicknames, and thinks I have the coolest ideas ever so it all balances out, lol).
[name_f]My[/name_f] mom is very stubborn and opinionated and generally operates with a philosophy that if you’re talking to her about it you want her opinion. She won’t be deliberately mean but she will be blunt. I am also stubborn and opinionated so I’ve learned to filter her (or anybody’s) feedback and only take into account the parts I asked for or the bits where she brings up a really good point I hadn’t thought of. Her feedback hasn’t affected my list much but its given me a good idea what to expect when I’m actually naming a real kid so that I can go in prepared on how best to approach sharing anything name related to avoid hurt feelings and butting heads. I’d love it if she liked whatever I picked but I know we might not see eye to eye and am pretty ok with that. If she absolutely hated something I was considering for a real child and I had another option I loved equally then I’d probably take it into account.
He’s not super into names, but the names he likes tend to either be very unisex and/or very 90s. So things like [name_u]Avery[/name_u], [name_u]Logan[/name_u], [name_u]Sydney[/name_u], [name_u]Morgan[/name_u], [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], [name_f]Stephanie[/name_f], [name_u]Taylor[/name_u], [name_u]Tyler[/name_u], [name_m]Justin[/name_m], [name_m]Kevin[/name_m], [name_m]Bryan[/name_m]. There’s nothing wrong with his style, and I love some of his names, but I wish he would expand his range a little more.
He doesn’t like a lot of names. He doesn’t like out there names like [name_f]Athena[/name_f], [name_u]Bellamy[/name_u], [name_u]Luca[/name_u], or [name_u]Wilder[/name_u] (and to be honest I don’t either), and word names, like [name_u]Ivy[/name_u], [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_u]Brook[/name_u], [name_u]River[/name_u], etc. He also is not a fan of classic names (this is where my heart starts hurting), like [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f], [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_u]William[/name_u], [name_m]Thomas[/name_m], & [name_u]James[/name_u]. I will probably never forget the look on his face when I said that [name_u]Esme[/name_u] [name_u]Marie[/name_u] was a cute girl’s name. It was just a look of pure shock and disgust.
I mostly don’t take his opinions when thinking about names, and we respect each other’s styles.
i was speechless
)
However, because I do sometimes talk to my mum about it, I think she counts as that!
) and [name_f]Flordelis[/name_f].
He does like [name_f]Esmeray[/name_f] and [name_f]Parisa[/name_f] so I think his style would be dreamy/cottagecore.